


What's the Catch?

by jazzjo



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/F, yes the rest of the crew is conspiring it's sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28351080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzjo/pseuds/jazzjo
Summary: Neither of them can quite get their point across, and not for the lack of trying. Everyone seems to have their own two cents, but perhaps it'll actually work this time.
Relationships: Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: To Boldly Gift: Fics 2020





	What's the Catch?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [degenerateworm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/degenerateworm/gifts).



Kira took deep breaths walking through the Promenade, smoothing the cloth of her uniform down with her hands repeatedly, before pausing as she noticed Quark’s eyes following her.

“Can I help you, Quark?” She sniped, sparing him a sidelong glance as she passed the bar.

He smirked, never cowed by being caught leering, “The question, Major, is how _I_ can help _you_.”

She scoffed, shaking him off as she retorted, “Save your sorry attempts at flirting for Dax. At least she won’t put a hole through your bar if you go too far.”

“She may not have a problem with that, my dear Major,” Quark intoned, “But you might.”

That stopped Kira in her tracks, though she didn’t quite know why. Striding over to the bar, she kept her voice level as she stared Quark down, “And what do you mean by that?”

Quark just shrugged, putting two raktajinos in front of her, “Nothing, Major. Nothing at all. On the house.”

“What’s the catch?” She asked, eyeing the mugs warily.

“Nothing, Major. Nothing at all,” Quark repeated, “Just spreading some holiday cheer.”

With that, Quark walked away. The annoyance his leering brought on faded away, allowing the tension that had previously gripped her to return, rippling over her skin and sinking its teeth into her joints. She tried to shake it off to no avail, resigning herself to another shift with her shoulders up to her ears as she grabbed the mugs and headed towards Ops.

Jadzia was already sitting behind her station when she got there, unsurprisingly, with Dr. Bashir hanging over her shoulder as he often was. Somehow Kira still found herself caught off guard. _Damn nerves_ , she thought, trying to compose herself and not spill the drinks she was carrying.

As she approached, Julian scurried off. Back to the infirmary, no doubt. It was, after all, where he was supposed to be. Jadzia looked up and met her gaze, the smile she always seemed so ready to give to others immediately springing to her face.

“Good morning, Major,” she said, “Two drinks? I wouldn’t be too presumptive to assume one was for me, would I?”

Finding a lump in her throat all of a sudden, Kira tried to speak past it, “Not at all, Lieutenant. I would never try to stand between you and a raktajino; I know better than that.”

Setting one mug down on her station as she passed it, she moved to pass the other to Jadzia when her feet decided they disagreed with the flooring of Ops all of a sudden, tripping her up. In a swift move, Dax grabbed the steaming mug out of one of Kira’s hands, wrapping her other arm around Kira’s waist to stabilise her.

“I don’t know about you, Major, but I was planning on drinking the raktajino, not wearing it,” she said to the now red-faced Bajoran.

As Kira righted herself, she nudged Dax with her elbow, retorting, “Well, I don’t know how you Trills like it, but I’ve always heard raktajino’s taste better _after_ they’ve been spilled.

“I wouldn’t mind, I suppose,” Dax teased as she turned back to her own station, “tasting a raktajino off your–“

“Sisko to Kira,” his voice over the comm interrupted.

“Yes Commander?” she replied hurriedly, feeling her face turn as red as her uniform.

“Could I see you in my office, Major?”

“On my way,” Kira clipped as she tapped her commbadge, before turning to Dax, her lips parting as if to say… _something, anything, damn it Nerys_.

“Benjamin is not a patient man, my dear Major,” Dax teased.

Instead of letting herself be rendered speechless twice in as many seconds—minutes, maybe; she wasn’t entirely sure––Kira turned on her heel and closed the short distance between her and Sisko’s office.

Once the doors slid shut behind the Major, O’Brien cleared his throat from his crouch next to the maintenance access panels not too far away from Dax, “You know, Lieutenant, that Keiko thinks the Major doesn’t quite get that you’re flirting with her?”

“Funny you mention your wife, Chief,” Dax responded, “Though I am more likely to trust her than you on the matter. How does she suggest I go about things instead? I’m being as obvious as I can.”

“As you know how to, maybe. Maybe you need to think outside your usual toolkit,” O’Brien countered, standing up after screwing the panel cover back to the wall. 

O’Brien quickly shut up once the doors to Sisko’s office slid open once more and the Major returned to her station. Dax levelled him with a look that could have burned through the conduit he felt he should be hiding in for bringing this up on the bridge but went back to her work with a shake of her head.

O’Brien couldn’t be right in saying there were better ways to make her intentions known to Kira, but then again, the advice was from Keiko, not the Chief himself. Keiko was miles, if you will, more reliable for advice about something like this. Benjamin was as well, Dax thought, and had seen both Jadzia and Curzon through enough messes to have some decent words of wisdom even if they would be accompanied by teasing.

Dax weaved her way past Kira to Benjamin’s office, keeping most of her attention on not tripping over her own two feet while not passing up the opportunity to give the gorgeous Major a smile. Pressing on the door chime, she waited to be let in.

“Dax,” Benjamin leaned back in his chair as he regarded his long-time friend, “Is there something I can help you with?”

Jadzia smiled, easing through her sudden uncharacteristic bashfulness, “It’s personal. I need advice.”

“Is this about the Major?” he hazarded.

She chuckled, “I never could hide much from you, could I?”

“Not a chance, old man.”

“Well,” she began, “You know I’ve never struggled with flirting–”

“-Bullshit. Curzon had many a drink thrown in his face,” Benjamin interrupted.

“Well, Curzon was a blunt instrument,” Jadzia deflected, “I like to think of Jadzia as one of precision. You know how wound up Julian was for _months_ , and I didn’t even try that hard to mess with him. But somehow, with her, nothing is working. Nothing’s getting through.”  
  


“Have you considered that it’s because you’re not taking this as some kind of challenge or long-drawn strategy to torment someone?” Benjamin suggested, gesturing for her to sit.

She had begun to pace, and she’d hardly noticed. Pulling a chair out, she sat, her leg beginning to bounce almost instantly.

“What do you mean, Benjamin?” she probed.

“You actually like her, old man,” he stated matter-of-factly, “and because she means something to you, you actually care about whether she knows about how you feel for her. You’ve got skin in the game this time. You care if you fail.”

“And I’m failing,” Jadzia sighed, her head in her hands.

“I wouldn’t give up hope just yet, my friend,” Benjamin assured, “Just trust me on this one.”  
  


He tapped on his commbadge, summoning the Major into his office once again.

“What are you doing, Benjamin?” Dax whispered, her eyes narrowed.

“Trust me, old man.”  
  


Once Kira had entered his office, he slipped effortlessly into the role of their commanding officer with no sign of their previous conversation or pretence.

“Major, Lieutenant, there is a mission that I will need you both paired up on that is coming up in a few days. You’ll be getting more information as Starfleet Command sees fit to release the details to you both. In order to improve chances of mission success, they have sent a preparatory training program for you both to use in the holosuite,” he slid the program over to Dax, “Quark knows you will require use of his facilities. I would suggest you both get started as soon as possible.”

“Commander,” Kira started, “What does this training program involve?”

“I must confess I am not entirely sure, Major,” Sisko ceded, “They are quite adamant it remains need-to-know. I have Ops. Why don’t you both get started on it?”

“Of course, Sir.” Kira assented.

Both women turned to leave Sisko’s office, holoprogram in hand. Dax caught Benjamin’s eye, seeing the wink he sent her as Kira’s back was turned.

Whatever he had planned, it had better be good.

They both entered the holosuite, the program loaded into the system, and both women looked around earnestly trying to figure out the sort of program they had been assigned.

Gesturing to the mats in the center of the room, Kira spoke first, “Seems like your run-of-the-mill sparring program to me. What do you think?”  
  


_Sparring. Close quarters. Bodily contact. Kira’s strong, steady arms around her._

“I guess they need a science officer on this mysterious mission and want to make sure my hand to hand is up to snuff,” Jadzia eked out.

Kira swallowed discreetly as she took her uniform jacket off, revealing her white undershirt. She could do this.

_She could deal with Jadzia’s body pressed up against hers. Her lithe limbs. Those eyes that would be the death of her too close to ignore. Prophets, Nerys, pull yourself together._

“Are you ready?” Kira eventually managed to force out semi-convincingly.

_Not in a million years_.

Jadzia wordlessly stripped her jacket off as well, nodding instead of attempting to trust her voice.

Both women stepped onto the mats, taking on defensive stances to begin sparring. Jadzia knew that, with Kira’s insurgent training, she would win no battles by attempting to hold back and wait for an attack. In every close-combat situation they had been in together, Kira had always been deadliest in her counterattacks.

Not to mention the fact that Jadzia was by no stretch patient enough to play the waiting game.

Jadzia lunged first, leaning into a right handed grip to overbalance the Bajoran. She had the advantage of height, however slight, and she would use it. Kira read the move quickly, though, and allowed her weight to be shifted to her back foot, only to sidestep at the final moment and allow Jadzia’s own weight to take her down.

The two women continued to grapple on the ground, both finding it difficult to hold a lasting victory against the other. Eventually, Kira managed to wrap her legs around Jadzia’s waist and flip them over, straddling her full weight over Jadzia’s torso while she pinned the Trill’s arms above her head.

_Fuck, who gave her the right to be so goddamn beautiful. Her eyes. That nose._

“Jadzia, you alright?” Kira pressed, loosening her grip on Jadzia’s wrists.

“Jadzia?”

_She’s too damn gorgeous. It’s just not fair._

Kira sat up suddenly, her hands releasing their grip entirely.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Jadzia cursed.

Kira bit her lip, nodding.

“Do you really think so?” she ventured.

Sitting up slightly and leaning on one elbow, Jadzia took a breath and pushed forward, resting her free hand on the other woman’s cheek, “Kira, you are the most breathtaking person I have ever seen. In all of my lives, I have never met anyone quite like you.”

“If you’re going to be throwing such compliments around,” Kira sat forward once more, leaning into Jadzia’s space, “You may as well call me Nerys, Dax.”

“Only if you call me Jadzia,” she responded, before pressing her lips to the Bajoran’s softly.

_Prophets._

“I think we can both agree to that on one condition,” Kira murmured against Jadzia’s lips, “We keep doing this.”

“This and everything else, my dear Nerys,” Jadzia responded between slow kisses, “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted this. How long I’ve been trying to tell you.”

Kira smiled, placing a kiss along Jadzia’s hairline, “About as long as I have, I suppose.”

“My gut says there is no mission,” Jadzia raised her eyebrows as she spoke, “Just some station-wide conspiracy to get both our heads out of our asses. Can’t complain, though.”


End file.
